


Running Fingers Through Fur

by ColourfulVoid



Series: The Academy of Hope and the Students of Despair [4]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Comfort, Dogs, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Gen, I Love He, I know what the 3 anime said about miaya, Komaeda Nagito Being Komaeda Nagito, Komaeda Nagito Needs Help, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Nagito has headphones to avoid loud noises, Owada Mondo Swears, Tanaka Gundham is a Ray of Sunshine, but I dont care this is my au, idc if that makes no sense, part of a series but you dont need to read the other parts, so she's HPA's school counsellor, the dogs name is hoshiko, the fact that the name tag and additional tag use different spelling bugs me, these kids need one ok
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-05
Updated: 2020-06-05
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:47:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24550288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ColourfulVoid/pseuds/ColourfulVoid
Summary: Nagito's rushing to meet his friends for lunch, only to be knocked over by... a dog? What's that doing here? And more importantly, why does it keep bringing up memories Nagito thought he had moved past?
Relationships: Komaeda Nagito & Oowada Mondo, Oowada Mondo & Tanaka Gundham
Series: The Academy of Hope and the Students of Despair [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1687486
Comments: 3
Kudos: 49





	Running Fingers Through Fur

**Author's Note:**

> hi, life is dumb and busy and I hate it, but I wrote this as a mini vent/ i cry regularly over that panel in the Komaeda manga of him hugging his dog so I wrote this.  
> also if u didnt see the tag, im making Miaya the school's therapist because tbh most of these kids need therapy. I dont know how old she is in canon, but idc.  
> in terms of timeline, this happened after While Everything Pours Down (Nagito's got his headphones.  
> alright, ive talked enough, thanks to beta Oopa, here ya go, enjoy.

“Just my luck…” Nagito muttered, walking in quick pace, despite knowing he was already late for lunch.

Sure, being late for lunch didn’t come with any consequences, so there was no  _ real _ reason to rush, but Nagito liked eating with his friends. Well, it was really just Hajime and Makoto, and occasionally Chiaki, still it was nice to see Makoto. Since they were in different years, they had different classes, so they didn’t get to spend as much time together as Nagito would’ve liked.

Still, he was nothing if not resilient, andon he pushed, not quite running for fear of one of the more strict teachers catching him and scolding him for running in the halls, but going as fast as he could walk without sprinting.

His headphones rested around his neck, plastic bouncing up and down rhythmically with his steps. 

It must have been a bit too fast, since one minute he was walking, and the next minute he found himself ramming into a large force, knocking him over. 

“Ah- whoa!”

His arms pinwheeled backwards for a moment before rising up to protect his head- a habit developed after hundreds of luck-related slips and falls.

“Oof- Ow…”

He hit the ground violently, thankfully keeping the back of his head from smacking against the tiled floor. The same could not be said for his arm, however, making a rather loud noise as the metal made contact with the ground. 

Nagito cringed; the bang both hurt his shoulder and his ears.

With a sigh, eyes still squeezed shut, Nagito attempted to stand up.

…

Something was lying on his chest. Something big enough and heavy enough to prevent him from standing up. Nagito peeked an eye open, and

found that lying on top of him was a dog. A really  _ big _ dog too, its back legs digging into Nagito’s hips while it’s front paws rested on his shoulders. It's coat was white and grey, and the dog's pointed ears flicked back and forth a bit as it looked down at Nagito.

“H-hello there…” He said.

Nagito blinked in confusion, not exactly sure how to respond to the sudden appearance of this dog. Luckily, he wasn’t left alone for too long.

“Hoshiko! Get back here!” A voice called, accompanied by stomping footsteps coming nearer. Rounding the corner, Mondo appeared, eyes scanning the hall before landing on Nagito.

“ _ Fuck _ , sorry man.”

Mondo walked over, leaning over Nagito while rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

“Slipped outta her leash… I’ll get her off ya.”

He bent down to reach the dog, resting a hand gently on her head.

“Come on, Hoshiko.”

Hoshiko barked, stepping off of Nagito and towards Mondo. She barked again as he ran his fingers through her fur, scratching behind her ears.

“Good girl. Now sit.” Hoshiko obeyed, allowing Nagito to pull himself up into a sitting position.

With that settled, Mondo turned to Nagito, expression turning to a glare.

“You ain’t gonna tell anyone about me having Hoshiko here, got it? I was just grabbing her from Tanaka and was gonna take her out for a walk.”

Nagito nodded, nonchalant smile plastered on his face as always.

“Right, of course.”

Mondo sighed with relief.

“Good. Sorry to be a dick and all, but technically only Tanaka is supposed to handle his animals. That’s bullshit though. Speaking of Tanaka…”

He trailed off, looking around.

“He was me helping look for Hoshiko after she ran away, I should let him know I found her.”

Just as the words left Mondo’s mouth, Tanaka appeared around the corner, instantly melting with relief as he approached. 

“The hound of the cosmos has been found!”

Mondo nodded, continuing to pet Hoshiko.

“A rebellious child she is… Just as free as the stardust she was spawned from…”

Mondo glared at the pup playfully.

“You just keep running off, don’t you?”

The dog barked in returned, seemingly with joy.

Tanaka too knelt down beside the dog, attaching a leash to her collar before turning his attention to petting her.

The two ran their fingers through Hoshiko’s fur, fluffy yet shiny, while Nagito looked on awkwardly.

What to do now? Stand up and continue on his way? Pet the dog? Nagito was inclined to go for the second option.

He raised a hand towards the dog, but hesitated. He withdrew it, not to escape the notice of Mondo.

“She doesn’t bite yanno.”

Nagito swallowed and nodded.

“Y-you would allow trash like me-“

Mondo scowled and scoffed.

“Yeah, yeah, shut up, just pet the dog, man.”

At a snail’s pace, Nagito reached forward to pet Hoshiko, his mind racing.

_ “Something’s gonna go wrong~”  _ A taunting voice singsonged.  _ “You should stop before someone gets hurt~” _

Nagito tried to ignore it, but there was no way to silence the noise within his own head.

_ “You know what happened last time you tried to do this. Selfish scum.” _

That did the trick, Nagito snapping back his hand. Shaken, Nagito went to stand and leave

“I-I I can’t, I’m wasting your time, forgive me-“

He had only gotten to one foot when Mondo grabbed his wrist and pulled Nagito back down.

“Oh no you don’t, you’re going to pet this dog, I know ya wanna.”

“N-no really, it’s fine, I really s-should go-“

Mondo rolled his eyes, still keeping a firm grip on Nagito’s hand.

“You’re not gonna hurt her or anything-“

“You don’t know that!” Nagito interjected, immediately looking away after his outburst.

“Forgive me… It’s just…” He shut his eyes, not wanting to see the disgusted looks he was sure Mondo and Tanaka wore. 

“Fucking… here.”

With that, Mondo gently guided Nagito’s hand down until it rested on Hoshiko’s back.

At first, Nagito recoiled back as his fingers made contact with the dog’s soft fur. Nothing happened. Slowly, Nagito began to pet Hoshiko, as gentle as humanly possible. He could feel each strand of fur brush against his skin. It felt… good.

Nagito peeked an eye open.

Mondo and Tanaka looked on with mild concern, and a bit of relief. 

“You alright there man? She wasn’t going to explode or something.”

Nagito nodded, still raking his fingers through Hoshiko’s fur.

“Yes, yes, sorry. Thank you. I just… I used…”

Nagito trailed off, but Mondo understood. No matter how long ago it had been, the death of a pet would always sting.

“Yeah, me too. I’m never gonna stop missing him, but that doesn’t mean I can’t love other dogs.” 

Tanaka nodded.

“Though the dark realm may have reclaimed some of my finest warriors, I must continue on. I call upon them in my times of need, and their spirits guide me.”

He looked off into the distance wistfully.

Nagito nodded along to the other boy's insight.

Mondo continued.

“Look, I know you’ve got-“ He waved his hands around with no real meaning, “some stuff going on, but it’s chill man. Don’t let bullshit from the past fuck you over, alright? You can’t change that shit.”

An amused look crossed Nagito’s face.

“You sound as though you speak from experience.”

“So what if I do?” Mondo barked back. “That’s none of your business.”

“Right, right, my apologies.”

Tanaka turned to address Nagito, scratching Hoshiko behind the ears as he did so.

“Mortal.” He said. “Upon certain hours, if you come to my domain, I may show you an even more astonishing sight. A gentle beast, though fearsome she is safe for you mortals. She has been trained in the ancient ways of destruction, terrifying away the dark spirits that plague you.”

Nagito smiled blankly. 

“That's nice…” 

Mondo leaned over, speaking in a hushed whisper to Nagito.

“Sometimes he’s got a therapy dog you can go pet.”

“Ah.”

Nagito took a final look at Hoshiko, big black eyes staring up at him in a friendly manner.

“Thank you both, though I really should get going.”

Mondo frowned.

“You’re right, we should really get this troublemaker back where she belongs.”

“To the shadow realm she must return…”

Mondo snickered.

“Or just to your lab for now.”

“Yes, that seems acceptable for now.”

Each of them stood- first Nagito, then Mondo, and finally Tanaka, who took an extra second to grab Hoshiko’s leash.

“I shall return this creature to her confines within my dungeon.” Tanaka declared, and headed off down a hallway.

Nagito turned to leave, but a final time was stopped by Mondo, this time by a gentle hand placed on his shoulder.

“Hey. Man.”

Nagito turned.

“Hm? What?”

Mondo took a deep breath.

“If you ever need to talk to someone, like really talk, cause it’s pretty obvious you’ve been fucked up before, there’s always Gekkogahara-Sensei. She’s got an office on the first floor. I’m not really the person to recommend you a fucking therapist, but even though she’s the most shy person I’ve ever met, she’s actually good at her job.”

Nagito smiled, softly, sadly.

“Thank you, Oowada.”

Mondo grinned.

“No fucking problem.”

With that said Mondo went on his way, following the disappearing figure of Tanaka.

Nagito took a deep breath and headed off to meet his friends for lunch.

Although…

They had already waited a bit already…

Maybe they wouldn’t mind if he swung around Gekkogahara-Sensei’s office for a few minutes first.

**Author's Note:**

> if u can, pls leave a comment! u can also vibe with me on these cool links below, or read other stuff in this series in the links AO3 provides.   
> [My Twitter](https://twitter.com/Colourful_Void)  
> [My Tumblr](https://void-of-many-colours.tumblr.com)  
> thanks so much for reading!


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